So, he said the only thing that might help. He held her hand, hoping to comfort her. “You close your eyes now. Imagine yourself holding Tram again. I’m sure he’s waiting to hold you, too.”
The girl smiled through the pain.
“I see him.”
It was the last thing she said.
Cheyenne Mountain Western Exit, CO
Tabby was as surprised as she’d ever been in her life. Audrey and Peter had managed to knock down all three of the men who had come to take her and Dwight back to the campground.
“Where were you guys?” she asked with shock.
“Just a second,” Peter cried out as he and Audrey jogged by. They held rifles at the ready as they went and checked the bodies. Only after making their rounds and looking toward the dirt path to see if anyone else was out there, did they finally come back to her.
“What the heck happened to you two? Did I miss a training program?” She was still surprised, even a minute later.
Audrey reached her first, taking her into an insta-hug.
“We learned from you,” the girl replied.
She was surprised again, but the human interaction was wonderful. After spending so much time with the distant Dwight, it was nice to make contact with a person. “Thank you for saving us, but where is everyone else?”
“Gone,” Peter said dryly.
“Like, all of them?” she asked.
“Yep,” Audrey said, stepping back from her. “But he and I knew you’d come back, so we dumped everyone else when they hiked out of here. Peter took good care of me last night as we waited for you. It was hardly any trouble at all.”
He laughed a little. “Actually, I don’t know a thing about the outdoors. I made her sleep on some sticks and pinecones. We haven’t eaten, either.”
Audrey didn’t seem upset. “He tried. That’s what matters most to me.”
The couple held hands, then got closer to her. Audrey whispered, while motioning toward Dwight. “What’s his deal. He looks like I did when I found out my parents were dead.”
Tabby sighed. “That’s not far from the truth. You saw him yesterday, right? He had his giant bird with him. Well, those guys who captured us thought it would be funny to use his bird as target practice. I’m surprised you didn’t hear the gunfire. It was like a whole army shooting at the poor thing.”
Audrey still spoke quietly. “We saw his bird, actually. The big red-and-blue thing, right?” She turned to Peter, who nodded. “It wasn’t anywhere we could catch it, but it was definitely his bird. We saw it early this morning going that way.”
Tabby didn’t turn to see where she pointed. It was good news, for sure, but not news she was sure she should share with Dwight. “I’ve been lying to him for the past day about seeing his bird. If you really saw it, and I told him, he would only think we were bullshitting him some more. Plus, maybe it’s for the best. I think he would go off looking for that thing on his own. I can’t believe I’m even saying this, but the man needs our supervision. He’s not right in the head.”
Peter gave a quick glance toward Dwight, then returned to her. “What do you want us to do? Should we go back into NORAD? We’d at least have some food and water. I think everyone else left. It would be ours for as long as we needed shelter from this war.”
When Tabby met the new president, she immediately felt like she wanted to be a part of the resistance against the people who’d taken over America. Finally, she thought, it was time to fight back. However, as a result of her stupid decision to follow Dwight, she’d missed the boat on the war. President Williams had taken the other survivors on their mission. She desperately wanted to rejoin the fight, but how would they find them?
“I don’t suppose they told you where they were going, exactly?” she asked.
Audrey answered. “They were heading for Colorado Springs. I know it for a fact. But that was yesterday. They might be two states over by now, especially if they found vehicles. Transportation was the main reason they headed to the Springs.”
She let out a big breath. “I don’t suppose you two would be willing to go with me back to the other bunker? I’m willing to bet a whole lead mine that’s where the president still wants to go. David is there. Plus, based on what I just saw, I think you two could take on the entire enemy army by yourselves.”
“As long as we don’t have to fight robots,” Peter joked.
She scanned the woods, suddenly remembering those horse-robots on the flatbed back in the campground. Were they out in the woods endlessly searching for her? Would they track her forever, even after the war was over? Tabby shivered, letting her imagination get the best of her. “If we leave now, I don’t think you will…”
“Well then, let’s get out of here.” Peter pointed to the dirt path. “We do have two dirt bikes and an ATV.”
“I’ve got nothing else going on,” Audrey said in a serious voice.
“Me, either,” Peter added.
She glanced over to Dwight, who remained sitting on the ground. “So, what do we tell him?”
CHAPTER 21
Wild Horse, CO
The flight back to Wild Horse was a numb blur for Ted. He and Kyla barely spoke. The pilots didn’t bother them. Even the feeling of scraping treetops didn’t evoke the usual I-wish-I-was-piloting emotional response. Not when he had a dead girl’s dried blood under his fingernails. Only when he got back to the airport, and saw Emily standing there waiting for him, did he come out of his funk.
They climbed off the Little Bird and ran clear of its rotors.
“How was it?” Emily asked with excitement. “Did you get the battery?”
Before saying anything, he wrapped the woman in his arms. At first, perhaps because she was around the soldiers, she seemed hesitant. However, she finally indulged his affection by returning the hug. Too soon, she separated.
“Was it that bad?” she asked, now serious.
They walked into the radio room where it was quieter. “The trip was fine. We ran into some of David’s goons. They were in the process of…” He had trouble saying it.
Kyla spoke up. “We ran into a guy and gal who were out in the woods to start a new life. They were with David’s people, dressed in blue, the whole thing. But two of David’s enforcers showed up at the cabin. They killed the boy and were fixing to do terrible things to the girl. We got there in time to stop them, but one of the guys shot the young woman out of spite. We couldn’t save her.”
Ted nodded. “They were dressed like our missing friend Tabby. Blue tights. No weapons. No skills. They were living a fantasy. A lie put in their heads by David.” He’d been thinking about it on the flight back. Why would David risk the people who would populate his new world by sending them out before his version of America was tamed? For a guy who controlled technology and had managed to defeat the American homeland, it seemed like a huge mistake.
Emily responded, “That’s terrible. I hope Tabby is okay out there. It’s risky for any woman to be outside alone and unarmed.” She pointedly looked at Kyla.
“She won’t be alone, ma’am,” Meechum volunteered. The heavily-armed woman held up the wall near the front door. “Or without at least one weapon on her person.”
“Thank you, Marine,” Emily replied, before speaking to the room. “The only way to save the innocent, and our friends, is to take out David before he can do any more damage. We know the deadline for removing Americans from overseas countries is tomorrow, and we have a plan for today, but we’ve got to move fast. Step one was getting the battery for the tablet, which we now have. Step two is contacting one of those giant planes. Step three is going to be difficult. We have to land it somewhere. This airport is too small…”
Ted picked up her thought. “Actually, ma’am,” he said to be professional in front of the others, “when we flew in, I noted the condition of the road going next to the airport. It’s straight for miles and doesn’t seem to have fencing or telephone poles alongside it. I’d say it would be suita
ble as a landing strip.”
“Are you sure?” Emily countered. “We’ll only get one chance.”
He shrugged. “The alternative is going to a bigger airport. It presents new risks of being discovered. This airport is so small, it probably doesn’t even rate an overflight by a drone. We’ll drive up and down the road to make sure there are no obstacles, but I think we can make this work. There’s nothing on the sides of the road but flat fields. It’s doable.”
Emily looked at Avery. “What do you think, Colonel?”
Ted and Emily had discussed his rank in their private conversations since Avery’s arrival. Almost from the beginning, Emily had entertained the notion of promoting him in the field. When the colonel showed up, she’d wanted to immediately bump Ted up a couple of ranks, so he would at least be at the same one as the new guy. However, he’d talked her out of it for a couple of reasons. One, even if she did kick him upstairs, Avery would still outrank him by virtue of time served at O-6. But the second point mattered more to him. He didn’t want the colonel to think he’d been promoted due to his personal relationship with the President of the United States.
Avery thoughtfully stroked his square jaw. As the colonel stood close to Emily, Ted realized the man he’d been worried about could possibly be an assassin. Someone who would both outrank him and be in a position to strike a deadly blow. John Jefferies, a man he knew well, was someone he never would have pegged as a traitor. Avery, or any of the new soldiers, were blank slates to him. Any of them could do a lot of damage to the fledgling rebellion he was putting on. Killing Emily would be a crushing loss, but so would a simple phone call to David’s HQ to warn them.
Avery didn’t whip out a gun as an assassin. He spoke while looking at Ted. “Emily and I chatted at length while you guys were gone to the cabin. She explained where the real Legion HQ is located, and why we have to attack it as soon as possible. What you’re proposing is a little over my pay grade, to be honest. I don’t like the idea of taking more civilians into battle, including whoever they are.” He pointed to Jacob’s men, who stood around outside the room. “But my Team Yankee is below half-strength now, and we were only sent here to do recon. Using our small copters to punch into a major fortified stronghold is too risky. The truth is none of us can hope to press an attack on the enemy base frontally.”
The colonel sighed. “So, I’d say if Kyla can take control of the aircraft, and there’s enough room to land it, then maybe this can work. My men can climb aboard the wings, we can take off from here, and then we can glide into the enemy base, like you’ve suggested. Surprise would be worth it. It seems crazy but given the poor alternatives against a superior enemy force, it might be worth a try.”
It wasn’t a ringing endorsement, but it was close enough. There was no military training that would have anticipated doing what they planned to do. They had to make it up as they went along.
“Then let’s get started,” Emily concluded.
Wild Horse, CO
After Avery returned the tablet housing, Kyla carefully placed the battery inside. The screen lit up with the familiar interface. Her previous session came up, as if it had been saved in memory. She quickly shut down any references to the Minot Air Base and found her way through the system to air assets.
“I have this terminal spoofed, so I’ll show up as a different address. Hopefully, it will make this tablet appear as a different piece of hardware and located far away. I have it set to a base in Newark, New Jersey, at this moment. If they’re looking for our real location, we should be safe.”
“Should be?” Avery replied.
“Yeah. I’ve done this before, and we were fine…mostly.” It would take too long to explain the nuances of the statement. She needed to focus on the screen.
Her first attempt to find the right aircraft led her to a fleet of airborne drones. If the data flashing in front of her was correct, there were hundreds of drones flying in eastern Colorado. Many were swarming in a circle around the Denver airport, like a hurricane of airborne surveillance protecting it. A good deal of the rest of the drones flew a similar circuit around Lamar. A smaller number flew over the wide-open spaces of the farmland.
“Not what I need,” she said to the screen.
The next thing she tried was looking for vehicles with names referencing solar power, assuming that would lead her to the name of the big platforms. She had to scroll through pages of other types of solar-powered robotic equipment, including models of self-driving big rigs, surveillance aircraft, and even autonomous boats. However, after furiously going page after page into the list, she found the one labeled as an autonomous flying platform.
“Got it,” she said to herself.
Five minutes later, she had a world map showing the flight patterns of the giant aircraft. “This is what they’re seeing at the headquarters for Solar One, the TV company.” She pointed to the screen. “Most of their huge aircraft are now over Europe.”
Emily chuckled. “You’d think David would want them here, to give his people free cable service. Why the heck would he station them all in Europe?”
“Not all of them,” Kyla assured her. “There’s one above Denver, one above Lamar, and two on the ground in Lamar. I see one over California. One up by the North Pole. It also looks like a handful of others are making their way to or from Europe. You can see the line of them here.” She pointed to the trail of ten or fifteen over the Atlantic Ocean, acting like a train of ants leading back to their hill in Lamar.
“There’s at least a hundred of them,” Avery commented.
“We only need the one over Denver,” Uncle Ted replied. “Can you access it?”
“Why not the one over Lamar?” she asked pointedly.
He shrugged. “Denver is closer?”
“Works for me. Let me try to link up,” she said, getting into the meat of the programming. To her delight, it was indeed a lot like taking over the land-based drones. Once she was inside the code for the plane, she was able to alter the infinity loop path of the flight. Instead of circling Denver, she sent the plane on a descent route to their airport. It took some fine tuning at the end, since the software didn’t recognize the two-lane highway as a legitimate airfield, but she made it work.
“There we go!” she said with pride. “It will be here in…” She did the math in her head. “…three hours.”
“It will take that long?” Avery asked with surprise. “Denver can’t be more than a hundred miles from here.”
Kyla replied. “I tried to make it come straight down, but the system wouldn’t allow it. I don’t know if it’s possible.”
Uncle Ted addressed the issue. “We saw these planes. They’re huge, unwieldy beasts, flying twelve miles up in the sky. They have to bleed off altitude gradually, or the fragile wings could rip. It sucks we have to wait, but it does give us time to prepare the rest of our plan.” He turned to Avery and nodded. “Colonel.”
“Very good,” Avery answered.
She sat back from the terminal. “And it gives us time to break down and clean our weapons fifty times.” She and Meechum traded smiles.
“Well, I’m sure that won’t be necessary,” her uncle assured her.
Kyla didn’t even mind. Her tablet theory had panned out. She was super stoked the big plane would arrive at all.
Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory
Priscilla’s self-image improved once she was able to change into a flight suit more suitable for high-altitude cruising. It helped her stay focused when they hooked up with the KC-46 Pegasus fuel hauler, and it was an absolute requirement when they landed in Diego Garcia, which was a tiny speck of land far out in the Indian Ocean.
After putting the big bird on the ground, she finally got a chance to tour the rest of the cargo bay. General Oakdale was gracious enough to show her around, which she appreciated.
“Ma’am, I can’t thank you enough for getting me and my boys down here. It was a real shame to lose London like that.”
“Have you heard anything? Was it as bad as it looked?”
“Worse,” he said gravely. “We always knew a modern nuclear attack would make Hiroshima seem like a tiny bonfire, and it exceeded all our worst fears. Miles and miles of total obliteration. Radiation zapped most of the south of Britain. Fallout is already coming down in the Low Countries and Germany. David’s forces knew where to hit us.”
“I’d like to hit back at the dirtbag, General. Has there been any progress on tracking him down? We both know he isn’t hanging out in some obscure island out here in the ocean.”
He seemed to think on it. “There’s been some chatter about a group of soldiers fighting inside America’s borders. They seem to think David is in a bunker under the town of Lamar.”
The name sounded familiar. “Should I know where that is? I feel like I’ve heard the name…”
He chuckled. “I mentioned it to you hours ago in the briefing, but I won’t hold it against you. I know we’re all dog tired. Lamar is the town on the other end of an imaginary tunnel through the earth starting below this island we’re checking out.” He pulled out a folded piece of paper and looked at it. “Amsterdam Island.”
“It sounds exotic,” she replied.
“It’s not. Intelligence says it’s a volcanic island with twenty-one square miles of nothing except rocks, peat moss, and a few scraggy trees. The French have a research station there with thirty or forty people living on-site.”
“Not much different than this place.” She waved her hand around, indicating the island of Diego Garcia, which she knew from prior visits was a nice place to refuel but not much else. She wasn’t a fan of the heat or the beach, so she was always anxious to get airborne again whenever she stopped there as part of her Air Force duties.
Minus America Box Set | Books 1-5 Page 106